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New skin research could help slow signs of ageing | BBC News – Transcript
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- Scientists in the Human Cell Atlas Project discovered the precise details of how human skin is created from a stem cell and how individual genes turn on and off during aging.
- Researchers have artificially grown skin cells containing tiny growing hairs in dishes by using what they learned to turn the right genes on and off with chemicals.
- The research findings published in the journal Nature are expected to lead to better treatments to hold back the diseases of aging and help people live longer, healthier lives.
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Now, if you spend a fortune on anti-wrinkle creams, here's one for you. Scientists have made a discovery which could, in time, be used to slow the signs of aging along with preventing scarring and producing artificial skin for transplantation. They've worked out the precise details of how human skin is created from a stem cell and how individual genes are turned on and off during aging in what's called the Human Cell Atlas Project.
Here's our science correspondent, Palav Ghosh. Professor Muslapa Hanafa is trying to find out how humans are built, one cell at a time. It's one of the most ambitious research programs in biology and the potential benefits are enormous.
If we knew how you can actually manipulate the skin from not aging, we will have fewer wrinkles, enhance our heart, all of those things that can rejuvenate organs. So if you knew what happens during development, adulthood, aging, you can then try to actually intervene and say, how do I make the heart younger?
How do I make the skin younger? So it sounds like the Human Cell Atlas was invented for someone like me. I think it was invented for all of us. Humans and all plants and animals are made from cells. These develop in the womb and after we're born to make up every part of our body, such as our skin and our arms and legs.
And this happens because microscopic genes inside each cell give instructions on which bits to grow and when. This is a slice of skin just a few millimeters in depth. You can see a hair follicle on the surface. Now, if we zoom right in, you can see what look like fairy lights.
These are, in fact, individual genes that are turned on that make its different components. The ones in orange are responsible for the topmost layer. And in yellow are the genes responsible for its color. Now, if we look over here, we can see a developing leg.
You can see, again, all sorts of genes are turned on to make the bone, muscle and cartilage. This happens all across the human body to grow the organs and tissues we need. These dishes contain skin cells that have been artificially grown by researchers by using what they've learned to turn the right genes on and off, which they do by adding chemicals to the cells.
The details have been published today in the journal Nature. Look closely and you can see tiny hairs growing out of them. That's incredibly exciting because it's giving us new insights into physiology, anatomy, a really a new understanding and a rewriting of the textbooks in terms of our cells and their molecular constituents and our tissues and organs and how they function.
These pictures show different parts of our body growing. They give us a deeper understanding of how the human body works and should lead to better treatments to hold back the diseases of aging and help us live longer, healthier lives. Palab gosh, BBC News, Cambridge.